Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Sometime, about 10 years ago, the city of Paris decided it needed to do something for those Parisians unable to take a summer vacation. Their solution was to bring the French Riviera to the banks of the Seine river. Paris Plage (Paris Beach, later pluralized) was what it was called and it has grown significantly in size and popularity.

Notwithstanding the dichotomy of transforming a centuries old urban bulwark against the Seine into the Côte d'Azur, the Paris Plages works as ridiculous but fun spot in the city to get away from it all. Or at least pretend to get away. Oh, and unlike the the Riviera, there's no topless sunbathing or swimming allowed!